The upper house of the Austrian parliament pushed through a constitutional change that will force local governments to take in a number of “refugees” equal to 1.5% of their population.
Meanwhile, ten people were killed in fighting between the Libyan army and jihad groups in Benghazi.
In other news, Catalan separatists won a majority in elections in Catalonia, which they say is a mandate for independence from Spain.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, RRN, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Bankers Preparing for Final Phase of Looting: “You Will Soon Lose Everything You Own”
The American people have been through several beta tests related to our private wealth being confiscated and no resistance was offered by the sheep of this country.
The first of the beta tests included the hijacking of our money in the bail-outs. Amazingly, the people just continued on like business as usual as then ex-Goldman Sachs head and then Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, oversaw the literal stealing of trillions of dollars of the nation’s money by the criminals on Wall Street.
The MF Global debacle stands as a second beta test in which secured investor accounts were stolen by the friends of Don Corzine at JP Morgan. Despite the fact that the stolen money sat in secured accounts, was ostensibly protected by the Securities and Exchange Commission and insured by the FDIC, over a billion dollars was stolen and nobody went to jail. I can still hear the bankers laughing at the collective impotence of the people of this country.
The appointment of criminal Jack Lew to head the Secretary of the Treasury and nobody cried foul, was the third beta test. Jack Lew was one of the biggest criminals on Wall Street. While at Citigroup, Lew oversaw 113 tax evading accounts in Cayman Island banks. Based upon Lew’s resume, hedge funds for Citigroup where he lost almost 600 million dollars, one can only assume that is why Obama has appointed Lew to finish the job which will leave you and I with nothing. Obama may as well have appointed Al Capone and Capone stole far less money than Lew. But wait, there’s more dirt on Lew. Jack Lew, from Citigroup, was an overseer of hedge funds. You know, the hedge funds originating from the actual criminals that collapsed the economy back in 2008. This is who Obama selected to run the economy. Throughout 2013-14, Lew announced that the government was taking the unprecedented action of avoiding governmental default through this summer by including tapping into and suspending investments into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and halting the daily reinvestment of the government securities (G) fund, the most stable offering in the Thrift Savings Plan’s portfolio. This means that when the run on the banks begins to happen, Lew and fellow criminals will move steal all retirement accounts. The handling of these Civil Service retirement accounts was merely a beta test and the sheep remained asleep.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Cuts Growth Forecast for Germany in 2015 and 2016
Because of current slowdown in emerging markets
(ANSA) — NEW YORK — The IMF is about to downgrade its growth forecast for Germany to 1.5% in 2015 from 1.6% previously estimated. As for 2016, growth will be reduced to 1.6% from 1.7% previously estimated. This news was reported by Bloomberg, citing der Spiegel. According to the magazine, the cut of growth forecast should be linked to the current slowdown in emerging markets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
S&P Declares Ukraine in ‘Selective Default’
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday declared Ukraine’s sovereign debt to be in “selective default” because of the war-torn nation’s debt restructuring negotiations.
Cash-strapped Ukraine has been struggling with its debt since entering a deep economic depression after war broke out with pro-Russian insurgents in its eastern industrial heartland early last year.
The default means Standard & Poor’s believes Ukraine will not repay its debt to all commercial bondholders in full. The downgrade affects only the bonds it has issued in foreign currencies, which had already been rated as vulnerable to default.
Ukraine had invited commercial bondholders to debt restructuring meetings on October 14 with an offer that would include a 20 percent “haircut” in the money they are owed, and a delay on $11.5 billion in payments on the principal until after 2019, the agency said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Squitieri Says Italy Not at Risk of Default
But resources lacking says audit court president
(ANSA) — L’Aquila, September 25 — Italy isn’t at risk of a default as the state’s accounts are safe, but resources are lacking, Italian Audit Court President Raffaele Squitieri said Friday.
“The state’s books aren’t a disaster because we’re up front about them…we’re not like other countries…in which the accounts are of dubious accuracy,” Squitieri said.
He went on to blame Italy’s financial problems on the international economic situation.
He also praised the current government for trying to cut spending.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Brooklyn — The Capital of Liberal Hypocrisy
Progressive parents fight integration in their children’s public schools.
I live in a small slice of Brooklyn wedged between Brooklyn Heights, one of New York’s most prosperous neighborhoods, Dumbo, a relatively new neighborhood that is essentially a forest of condominiums catering to financiers, techies, and “creative professionals,” and Farragut Houses, a sprawling public-housing complex that borders the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Though you won’t find gated communities in this part of Brooklyn, you will find buildings with doormen, which is of course a quite similar phenomenon. The retail establishments catering to affluent professionals don’t formally exclude poor residents, but their high prices do the work of explaining who is welcome and who is not. Very rich people and very poor people live side by side in this part of Brooklyn, yet their lives rarely intersect. Rich Brooklynites and poor Brooklynites do, however, share their local public schools. And as you can imagine, not all of Brooklyn’s bourgeois parents are thrilled about this fact.
Read more at:
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
TPP Talks to Resume in Atlanta This Weekend
Talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will resume in Atlanta in the US this weekend, with some officials hoping to seal a deal and bring to a close nearly five years of negotiations. The TPP aims to create a comprehensive free trade area that brings together 12 Asia-Pacific countries, including the US, Japan and Singapore.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: GOP Rivals Want to ‘Start World War III Over Syria’
Donald Trump on Friday accused his GOP rivals of seeking to “start World War III over Syria” and suggested the U.S. let Russia take up the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
“They want to start World War III over Syria. Give me a break,” Trump said at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.
“You know Russia wants to get ISIS right. We want to get ISIS. Russia’s in Syria. Maybe we should let them do it?,” he continued. “Let them do it. What the hell are we crazy?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Saudi Ties to 9/11 Mean U.S. Ties to 9/11
Media interest in Saudi Arabian connections to the crimes of 9/11 has centered on calls for the release of the 28 missing pages from the Joint Congressional Inquiry’s report. However, those calls focus solely on the question of hijacker financing and omit the most interesting links between the 9/11 attacks and Saudi Arabia—links that implicate powerful people in the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Revokes Citizenship of Convicted Terror Plotter
Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act: Zakaria Amara is the first person to have his citizenship revoked due to conviction for terrorism, the government promises there will be more. The Conservatives of course have to be re-elected.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Editor’s Note: Flippant, but right on the money, Barry Jackson’s note to his MP during Canada’s federal election campaign which speaks for so many propaganda-weary Canadians, should go viral.
(Background: Jamie Nicholls is my local NDP Member of Parliament. Yeah, I know, inasmuch as I believe in small, transparent, honest, accountable government, it hurts to have a left-wing loon as my federal representative.)
Yo Jamie
I got this junk from a loser called Ed Broadbent. I read it, then read it again, thought for a minute and then found myself almost in tears I was laughing so hard. Goebbels was the first to make famous the principle that a government could tell the most outlandish lies and if it kept repeating them often enough the people would begin to believe them. Here are five that literally jump out at you. The trouble is, they are the basic theme of the email. Which shows just how much the NDP is out of touch with reality, even delusional. Only fascists could think they could tell whoppers like these and get away with it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Enipower Launches San Donato Co-Generation Plant
(AGI) Milan, Sept 25 — An Enipower co-generation plant in Bolgiano in northern Italy was launched on Friday. The ceremony was attended by the Mayor of San Donato Milanese Andrea Checchi, Eni Midstream Gas&Power Chief Officer Umberto Vergine and Enipower CEO Daniele De Giovanni. The plant is the third in a district heating project begun by Enrico Mattei in 1955, when the village of Metanopoli and Eni’s first offices were designed. Now as then, the plants run on natural gas and produce electricity transmitted through the national (60 MW) network to provide heating for a large part of San Donato Milanese, private homes, public properties and Eni’s management HQ. The district heating network connected to the plant has been extended and upgraded to handle higher volumes of water.
When the work is complete in 2018 the network will be 37 km long and will make San Donato Milanese a leader in thermal energy per person. The original network covered 5 km and by 2000 grew to 22 km. The new plant and district heating network were designed to integrate as closely as possible with the region and provide the highest possible level of energy efficiency by applying the best technology during planning and construction. This ensured emission levels conformed to legislation and achieved cutting-edge standards and excellency on national electricity generation. “District heating began at San Donato in 1955,” said Umberto Vergine, “and it is therefore almost certainly the first of its kind in Italy [it began in Brescia in 1972], and certainly the first to employ natural gas. The first plant used a traditional boiler plus a 1 MW gas turbine to supply energy and heat to the first office and residential blocks.” The San Donato district heating system, with the 1982 plant, extensions and the new complex, supplies energy to 4,000 flats, a hospital, schools, churches, town hall and the Eni buildings. “With the installation of the new generation gas turbine and exothermic gas engines we have achieved a 9 percent increase in overall performance and a 29 percent increase in electricity efficiency. The project provides improved heat distribution, with reliability and continuity of supply and an improved network in terms of service guarantee, stability and diffusion. The issue of the environment was paramount, with top technological and engineering solutions utilised to minimise air emissions. The new plant ensures that emissions remain below the legal levels in the region, guaranteeing excellent eco-friendly standards now and in the future,” said Mr Vergine.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Separatists Win Absolute Majority of Seats in Catalan Vote: Exit Polls
Separatists pushing to make Catalonia independent from Spain were on track to win an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in a regional election on Sunday, exit polls showed.
A poll released by Catalan television channel TV3 gave pro-independence parties between 74 and 79 seats out of a total 135, while a survey for radio station COPE gave them between 71 and 76. TV3 said pro-independence parties had won 49.8 percent of the vote while COPE gave them 48 percent.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ten Years on: Danish Mohammed Cartoonist Has No Regrets
Ten years after a Danish newspaper triggered deadly protests by publishing 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the man behind the most infamous drawing says he feels anger but no regret.
Kurt Westergaard, 80, has received numerous death threats and lives under police protection since his caricature of a swarthy man with a bomb swaddled in his turban was published by daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005.
In 2010 an axe and knife-wielding man broke into his home, forcing him to take refuge in a panic room for 10 minutes as his attacker pounded on the door, while his five-year-old granddaughter was left alone in the living room.
“My basic feeling has been and still is anger. If you are threatened I think anger is a good feeling because it is like you mentally strike back,” he told AFP in a telephone interview…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Brickwood Dies After Being ‘Violently Assaulted’
A 74-year-old ‘gentleman’ has died after being ‘violently assaulted’ in a suspected bungled burglary at his home.
David Brickwood was found seriously injured at his home In Abington, Northampton, early yesterday morning. He was taken to Northampton General Hospital but died later that day.
Police have now launched a murder investigation amid suspicions that his death was the result of burglary which had gone wrong.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gay Clergy Who Defied Bishops by Marrying Male Partners Run for Synod
Two gay clergy who both married their male partners in defiance of the Archbishop of Canterbury are standing for election to the Church of England’s ruling body.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London’s Baitul Futuh Mosque Fire Sees Two Teenage Arson Suspects Arrested
Two boys aged 14 and 16 are currently in custody at a south London police station after the Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden went up in flames at about midday on Saturday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Shot Dead on Busy East London Street as Panicked Shoppers Run for Their Lives
The victim was shot dead on Chatsworth Road in Hackney shortly before 1.15pm while the street was full of shoppers. No arrests have yet been made. A murder investigation has been launched.
[Comment: Perhaps UK gov. should ban guns…oh, wait…they already did.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tracey Fidler Faces Jail as Her Son Did Not Attend Lessons After Father Died
Mother-of-five faces jail because her son did not attend lessons while he was grieving the death of his father — but the school said it was not a good enough reason.
Tracey Fidler (pictured) is being prosecuted by Reading Borough Council — the same authority her fiance Kris Jarvis, 39, was working for when he was hit and killed by a drunk-driver doing 70mph.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: April Jones’ Killer Mark Bridger Tried to Groom Her Sister by Using Facebook
Mark Bridger targeted Jazmin Jones, who was about 14, on social media a year before he snatched her five-year-old sister who was playing near her home in Machynlleth, Powys.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘10 Dead’ In Benghazi Clashes Between Libya Army, Jihadists
Seven jihadists of the Islamic State group and three soldiers of Libya’s recognised government died in weekend clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi, military and medical sources said Sunday.
A source at the city’s Al-Jalaa hospital, quoted by Libya’s government-run news agency, said three soldiers were killed and 21 colleagues wounded during the Saturday-Sunday clashes in the Saberi district of central Benghazi.
Seven members of Libyan branches of IS were killed and seven others captured, according to the army’s central command…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Israel’s Democratic Crisis
Wednesday night Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu touched on the most critical threat to Israeli democracy. Following Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan’s announcement that he was cancelling Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch’s appointment as Inspector General of the police due to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s refusal to approve it in a timely manner, Netanyahu said, “Our appointments process is harsh, prolonged, harmful, and without a doubt worthy of review.”
The power to appoint is the power to govern. Without the power to appoint public servants, governments cannot develop patronage networks.
Although patronage has developed a bad reputation, all it really amounts to is the ability to ensure that officials appointed by a government are loyal to the government and as a result can be depended on to faithfully execute the policies of the government.
When appointments are controlled by unelected forces, elected officials cannot trust that public servants will implement their policies. Indeed, it is almost a given that they won’t.
In recent weeks various unelected forces have conspired to scuttle two senior governmental appointments…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Arrests Four Suspects in Fatal Stone-Throwing
Israeli police have arrested four Palestinian teenagers on suspicion of the stoning of a Jewish man’s car this month that caused a fatal crash and helped trigger new measures targeting stone-throwers.
Police said late Saturday the four suspects were aged 16 to 19 and residents of Sur Baher, the east Jerusalem Palestinian district near where the attack took place on September 13 during the Jewish Rosh Hashanah, or New Year, holiday.
The stones had hit the car of 64-year-old Alexander Levlovich, causing him to veer off the road and hit a tree. He died in the crash, and two female passengers were injured…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Media: Netanyahu Wants Casino in Eilat
A ‘Las Vegas’ on the Red Sea
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 25 — Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu has recently taken up again a project to open a casino in Eilat, the first in Israel, according to private broadcaster Channel 10. Netanyahu’s objective is reportedly to create a sort of ‘Las Vegas on the Red Sea’ boosting ties between Eilat and the rest of the country in spite of its geographical distance.
At the moment, according to Yediot Ahronot, different projects are being examined. One of them includes several casinos in major hotels across the city. Another provides for only one gambling house at the current airport, which will soon close after the inauguration of a new airport located 30 kilometers up north. The project of a casino in Israel has been discussed for over 20 years. Some stress its economic potential.
Others, including police and magistrates, fear an increase in crime. Also, in the rabbinic world, some are warning against a moral degeneration.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Memo to Ayatollah Khamenei: Israel Wins
Yom Kippur is the most solemn day of the year for the Jewish people—and it arrived this week during an extremely solemn and troubling time for Israel.
There’s no easy way to say it: Israel’s enemies are clearly gaining momentum. In the Middle East. In Europe. And yes, right here in the United States.
Before you throw up your hands and say “Oh great, another depressing ‘Israel is in mortal peril’ piece,’“ bear with me, because there is a major silver lining in all of this (although, incidentally, Israel is indeed now in mortal peril thanks to the West’s unconditional surrender to Iran over its nuclear weapons program).
We’ll get to the encouraging part shortly. But first, let’s review the bad news:…
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Blackwater Founder Erik Prince on How to Defeat Islamic State
Erik Prince, the well-known founder of military contractor Blackwater, has been offering advice to current Republican presidential candidates about how the US should respond militarily and geopolitically to the situation on the ground in the Middle East — especially with regard to the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Everyone Has Accepted’ Assad Should Stay: Rouhani
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday he saw a widespread acceptance among major powers that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should stay in place.
“I think today everyone has accepted that President Assad must remain so that we can combat the terrorists,” Rouhani, a key ally of Assad, told CNN.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In UN Address, Iranian President Claims Nuclear Program Good for Environment
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressed the United Nations Summit for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on Saturday, claiming Iran’s nuclear program is good for the environment.
The president not only claimed that Iran’s nuclear program contributes to environmental preservation, but also stated that the negotiations and nuclear deal made with world powers has created means of international and regional cooperation.
Rouhani went on to state how Iran is “eager to cooperate with our neighbors to promote regional sustainable development through active environmental diplomacy, constructive relations with other countries, transfer of technology and know-how, and participation in joint scientific activities, in order to fulfill our share in building a more sustainable world immune from environmental threats” warning of “West Asia” as a beacon of political and environmental instability.
Rouhani stated that West Asia is “not only facing hotter climate conditions and challenges of continued extensive drought but, it is also grappling with the scourge of terrorism and extremist violence.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Ready for Prisoner Swap With US: Rouhani
“If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set them free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well,” Rouhani told CNN…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Steps Up Anti-IS Coordination With Iran, Syria, Russia
Iraq has agreed to set up a cell increasing intelligence coordination with Russia, Syria and Iran in the fight against the Islamic State group, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
“It’s a committee coordinating between the four countries, with representatives of each country, in the field of military intelligence and aimed at sharing and analysing information,” Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office, told AFP.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 30,000 Foreign Fighters Went to Syria and Iraq: Report
US intelligence fears nearly 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria since 2011, many of them to join the Islamic State group, The New York Times reported.
The number, which reportedly includes many westerners including perhaps 250 Americans, represents a doubling of last year’s US assessment and will dismay US war planners.
The New York Times’ report cites anonymous “intelligence and law enforcement officials.”
In recent weeks, there have been allegations that the US military has been playing down the IS threat in intelligence reports, to paint a rosier picture of its efforts…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-regime militias formed since the Syria conflict began in 2011 have between 150,000 and 200,000 members, military and security sources say.
Created in 2012, the National Defence Forces comprises some 90,000 fighters from all religious confessions dispersed across Syria under the command of Brigadier General Hawash Mohammed.
‘Political militias’
– “Kataeb al-Baath” (The Baath Phalange, named after the ruling Baath party): headed by Hilal Hilal, this militia of 10,000 men is present in the northern city of Aleppo and in Damascus…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia, Iran, Iraq & Syria Setting Up ‘Joint Information Center’ To Coordinate Anti-ISIS Operations
Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria have agreed to establish a joint information center in Baghdad to coordinate their operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) militants, according to sources.
“The main goal of the center will be gathering, processing and analyzing current information about the situation in the Middle East — primarily for fighting IS,” a military-diplomatic source told Russian news agencies on Saturday.
The information center in the Iraqi capital will be headed by an officer of one of the founding countries on a rotating basis. Rotation will take place every three months. According to the source, Iraq will run the center for the next three months.
Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria may also use the information center to coordinate anti-IS combat plans, the source said, adding that the agreement is a milestone for uniting the region’s countries in the war on terrorism — primarily on Islamic State militants…
“Moscow is acting within the framework of international law, respecting the sovereignty of our country and in coordination with Syria,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told RT. “We do not hide anything under the table. We regard Russia as our friend and strategic ally which is honest in its actions.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Strategy That Dares Not Speak Its Name
Outlines of a Russian-mediated grand bargain on Syria are slowly emerging, with the deal allowing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to remain in power during a transitional period while a coalition to combat ISIS is put together. Some kind of bargain, whether it looks like Russia’s or not, may get international support. As we noted in yesterday’s morning email, murkily sourced reports suggest that both Saudi Arabia and Iran are guardedly open to some kind of compromise solution. Then yesterday afternoon, Germany’s Angela Merkel broke with the standing European consensus and stated that some kind of negotiated solution to Syria would include Assad, while Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara was open to Assad remaining in power during a transition phase, as long as the opposition was also included, and Assad stepped down at the end of the process. Now France, too, may be hopping on the bandwagon.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Defector and former KGB major Boris Karpichkov claims to have new evidence that the maths genius was murdered to protect Russia’s mole.
[Comment: Perahps the mole is the man who just won the labour leader position? ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Thousands of Moldovans Protest Corruption
Tens of thousands of Moldovans took to the streets on Sunday in the capital Chisinau calling for early elections as the country continues to be rocked by a $1 billion banking scandal.
The leftwing organisers of the demo said between 25,000 and 40,000 people turned out to show their anger over corruption in the former Soviet nation, which is one of the poorest in Europe.
Police did not provide a crowd estimate…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Now ISIS Declares War on the Taliban in Afghanistan
ISIS has been trying to establish itself in Afghanistan, resulting in a bitter and violent battle against the Taliban for supremecy of the Islamist insurgency in the war-torn country.
However, the terror group are said to be succeeding in their intrusion and have reportedly recruited followers in over three quarters of Afghanistan’s provinces.
[Comment: Recruiting followers because Afghans hate the Taliban, not realizing ISIS is the same if not worse…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rumors Persist That the CIA Helps Export Opium From Afghanistan
Despite billions spent to eradicate opium crops in Afghanistan, the crop is more popular than ever there, leading many to wonder whether some U.S. forces may actually be encouraging its growth and the heroin it later becomes.
In July, the Centers for Disease Control warned of record-breaking numbers of heroin deaths in the United States. “Heroin use more than doubled among young adults ages 18—25 in the past decade,” the CDC reported.
In the same month, it was reported that opium production is stronger than ever in Afghanistan, which now produces 90 percent of the world’s supply of the plant that’s refined to create heroin. This rise in production would have been impossible prior to the U.S.-led invasion, and it comes despite some $8.4 billion spent in counternarcotics efforts by the U.S., specifically designated to wipe out opium production in Afghanistan.
In fact, as Global Post reported in October, under the watchful eye of the U.S., opium use expanded to new parts of Afghanistan and growers now make use of modern, advanced agricultural technologies.
With photos circulating in 2010 that show U.S. soldiers patrolling opium fields, questions remain about what America’s real involvement may be in the opium trade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Crime ‘Hotspots’ May be Declared Disaster Zones in Cape Town
Cape Town — The City of Cape Town has taken the first step towards declaring “crime hotspots” as disaster zones, amidst what was described as an “ongoing failure of policing”.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille had sought legal advice on the matter.
The legal opinion “will seek to explore whether the City can declare the serious violent crime taking place in parts of the city as a disaster in these areas”, he said in a media release.
“The exact areas will be chosen after the soon-to-be-released official crime statistics are considered,” he added.
“In the context of the on-going failure of policing at the hands of national government, the legal opinion will seek to treat identified crime hotspots as it would any other disaster areas by making available additional policing and other resources to prevent crime and stabilise such communities.
“The legal opinion will also explore whether the City can claim additional resources from the national government in lieu of failure of the national police to secure certain communities,” Smith said.
A disaster is defined as an occurrence which causes or threatens to cause death, injury, disease, damage to property or disruption to the life of a community; and is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the disaster to cope with it using only their own resources.
| — Hat tip: RRN | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria Scores Rare Victory Against Boko Haram
In the largest surrender since Boko Haram launched their violent insurgency in northeast Nigeria in 2009, at least 200 extremists gave themselves up to the Nigerian Army in Banki, a fishing town on the border with Cameroon, the Nigerian Army declared Friday.
The military’s official Twitter handle announced the news using #OperationLafiyaDole, which translates roughly from Hausa as “Peace with Force.”
According to Nigerian newspaper the Daily Trust, Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said the town was liberated from Boko Haram control Thursday by a joint effort of the Nigerian Air Force and the Cameroonian Army. The two militaries are working alongside troops from Benin, Chad, and Niger to beat back the extremists, who have killed more than 17,000 people and displaced millions more since launching their local reign of terror six years ago. The U.S. and France have contributed to the task force’s fight by providing training and intelligence, but have not answered Nigerian requests for military equipment. The United States is reluctant to provide arms due to repeated human rights violations by the Nigerian military while conducting counterterror operations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
S African Township Tastes ‘Elite’ Fat-Loaded Diet
In a poor township of Cape Town, Nasreen Riley cooks up butter-fried chicken livers in a full-cream tomato sauce as part of the controversial “banting” diet often seen a preserve of the middle-classes.
Cutting out bread, rice, pasta and sugar — and feasting on meat, butter, cheese and cream — has divided nutritionists, but is now being brought to South Africa’s poorest neighbourhoods where obesity is a major problem.
“A lot of my clothes are now baggy. My skin has got better. People compliment, they can see the difference,” said Riley, a 42-year-old office administrator, who has lost seven kilogrammes (15 pounds) in eight weeks.
Behind the drive to spread the banting word is Euodia Sampson, a South African actress and TV personality who is a strong exponent of the diet, and Timothy Noakes, an outspoken professor who specialises in nutrition…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: More Refugees to Follow Constitutional Change
Austria’s upper house changed the constitution Friday to force local authorities to accept a quota of migrants equal to 1.5 percent of their population despite opposition from the resurgent far-right.
The move, mirroring EU efforts to oblige member states to accept more migrants, is aimed at relieving Austria’s overcrowded main refugee centre at Traiskirchen, and comes into effect on October 1.
It was put forward by Chancellor Werner Faymann’s Social Democrats and the centre-right People’s Party, which form Austria’s governing coalition, and votes from the Greens gave it the necessary two-thirds majority.
The far-right Freedom Party, which wants to restrict the number of migrants entering and which is currently topping national opinion polls with around 30 percent of the vote, opposed the move.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Train of Hope Helps Refugee Arrivals
One of several groups that formed to help refugees arriving in Austria from Syria and other countries is the Train of Hope. The Local spoke to Katrin Bernreiter, to learn what motivated the group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Taxi Drivers Fare Well in Migrant Crisis
The flood of migrants may be causing a strain elsewhere in Europe, but taxi driver Mohammed, who earns as much as 450 euros ($500) a day driving refugees from the border to Vienna, is a happy man.
“I charge 150 euros to get to Vienna. It’s a fixed rate no matter how many passengers there are,” the smiling, Austrian-born 30-year-old tells AFP as awaits his next customers. “I do two or three trips per day.”
“Before this all started, drivers would be lucky to earn 150 euros in a 12-hour shift in Vienna. I don’t mind waiting sometimes five or six hours at a time because I know I will get a fare.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Shuts the Door on Kosovans Dreaming of a New Life
They don’t come from a war zone, they’re not fleeing persecution, and the EU doesn’t want them. But for thousands of Kosovans fleeing unemployment and poverty, northern Europe is the only place to go.
As Europe creaks under the weight of a massive influx of refugees and migrants, it is the plight of those fleeing bloody conflicts in the Middle East that have captured the public’s attention.
But among the masses are thousands from the Balkans escaping economic misery…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Far Right Making Hay From Europe’s Migrant Crisis
The far right in Europe is making capital from the hundreds of thousands of migrants pushing into the continent and hopes to turn fears it has helped to fuel of an “invasion” into electoral success.
“Their attitude is basically that the people coming in are neither refugees nor migrants, but invaders,” said Jean-Yves Camus, one of France’s leading experts on the far right.
The leader of France’s National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen, claims that the migrants are “illegal immigrants who are over-demanding and arrogant” and that three-quarters are not refugees at all, but people who just want to claim benefits.
Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II is “what the FN has been warning about for years”, she says…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Life Advocate: Planned Parenthood ‘Preys’ on Young Women
A young, acclaimed pro-life leader believes most women have been taken by surprise that baby body parts are harvested and sold after an abortion, according to the undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress.
The “callousness” of hearing “high ranking Planned Parenthood officials eating their salads, sipping wine, talking about crushing above, crushing below, less crunchy abortion methods affects them,” says Kristan Hawkins, 30, President of Students for Life. She is the mother of four children, and was travelling with her youngest when interviewed for this video.
Despite the controversial campaign by the pro-abortion advocates to “Shout Your Abortion,” Hawkins says in this video interview that “we know that no woman wants to have an abortion.”
“They’re making this decision because they feel they have no other choice,” she says. Then, these young women hear on these videos that Planned Parenthood “is going to alter the procedures so they can get more organs to sell them.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The UN Wants to Censor the Entire Internet to Save Feminists’ Feelings
In a report released yesterday, entitled “Cyber Violence Against Women And Girls: A Global Wake-up Call,” UN Women, the group behind last year’s risible “He for She” campaign, called on governments to use their “licensing prerogative” to ensure that “telecoms and search engines” are only “allowed to connect with the public” if they “supervise content and its dissemination.”
In other words, if search engines and ISPs don’t comply with a list of the UN’s censorship demands, the UN wants national governments to cut off their access to the public.
So, what sort of content does the UN want to censor? ISIS recruitment videos, perhaps, which lure women into lives of rape and servitude? Live-streamed executions from Syria? Revenge porn or snuff videos? There’s no shortage of dangerous and potentially traumatising content on the web, after all, much of it disproportionately affecting women.
Alas not. The UN is hung up on “cyber violence against women,” a Kafkaesque term that is apparently shorthand for “women being criticised on the internet.” At least, that’s how at least two attendees at the launch of the UN report, published by the United Nations Broadband Commission, explained it yesterday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Muslim human rights campaigner Maryam Namazie banned from Warwick University because she’d offend Islam:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ex-muslim-human-rights-campaigner-maryam-namazie-banned-warwick-university-because-shed-offend-1521248
“In her blog, she wrote: “The Student Union seems to lack an understanding of the difference between criticising religion, an idea, or a far-right political movement on the one hand and attacking and inciting hate against people on the other. Inciting hatred is what the Islamists do; I and my organisation challenge them and defend the rights of ex-Muslims, Muslims and others to dissent.”
In an interview with the Coventry Telegraph, she added the decision equates to the banning of free speech and hinders debate. She continued: “It angers me that we’re all put in a little box and that anyone who criticises Islam is labelled racist. It’s not racist, it’s a fundamental right. The only way we can challenge aspects of Islam is through speech.
“The Islamic movement is a movement that slaughters people in the Middle East and Africa. It’s important for us to speak about it and criticise it. Labelling us as Islamaphobic is a way of preventing us from expressing our dissent.”
Quite right, LeDahu, but Maryam has her own, communist and viruently anti-Israeli agenda, and I write as one who has attended a couple of demos where she was a speaker against appeasement of islamism regarding oppression of women.
Lady who speaks the truth. Being near a Muslim is being near racism at its ugliest. How can this dangerous ideology get away with so much blatant evil. Revolting.
Your own government is complicit in it through MC/PC and so called Human Rights laws. Get rid of those blinders to natural discrimination and watch the Islamic retreat all the way back to the desert it sprang from.